Are you a project manager who is tired of going through the motions or tired of experiencing small pay raises with little or no career advancement? Want to take control of your career and your life? It will be an adventure, but a very rewarding one.

With Cheetah Learning you go from zero to certified in just 5 days. Yes... 5 days. Train, test, pass. Oh, and guaranteed to pass. I can't make this stuff up.

Cheetah Learning is not like the other training and certification programs or organizations. What they give you is more of a full life plan. It will seriously change the way you live in other aspects of your life. You will find yourself approaching, planning, living and succeeding differently than you ever have before. You won't be Superman, but you will accomplish more in a more efficient and effective manner and you will see it as it's happening - and others will, too.

Whether you like it or not, the answer is undoubtedly YES. Have you looked in your cyber mirror lately? We see reports and information about cybersecurity and cybercrime in the news and on social media repeatedly, but are we doing anything about it back home?

We should, but we don’t always do it and even when we do we probably don’t spend as much time on risk planning as we should. I should know! I speak from 20+ years of experience leading IT projects and initiatives, and while I’ve thankfully been pretty successful and learned lessons along the way, I’m no angel.

It's happening all around us...​There have been quite a few incidents of data breaches, large-scale credit card info thefts from big box change stores and even breaches in government databases over the past few months. These have all received great press, but that doesn’t mean they go away.

In fact, I think that it just makes it that much more likely – given the publicity – for these same hackers and other hackers to go the extra distance to find new targets and industries to hack. Sometimes it is done for ransom or to prove a point, and sometimes it is just done for the hacker’s curiosity and enjoyment.

I fully believe that we need to make cybersecurity a major presence on all projects. It needs to be a consideration going forward on all tech projects and on the larger ones a CSO or lead security person should be assigned to each project. Project security will become a full-fledged presence in all high visibility large scale projects and any projects with any degree of data sensitivity...which will include most tech projects judging from the experiences I've had in my work history.

The bottomline...

If we don't plan to avoid or react we will be sorry. Cyber crime is real and your project doesn't even need to be handling sensitive data to be at risk. It could be customer contact information that gets stolen. Anything – any security breach on the project – could stand in the way of customer confidence and customer satisfaction. Planning is our best tool – we must be doing it.

I own a 2003 Acura MDX. We hoped to get 100-150k miles of cheap reliable driving out of this vehicle, sell it and move on. What happened has been phenomenal. This vehicle is now 15 years old, has 285,000 miles on it, and has hardly cost us a dime to maintain. It still runs great and I am now planning to part with it only because I really don't need it anymore.

Acura MDX SUV- 2003 - one owner, never smoked in, silver with black leather interior. Seats 7 has virtually new tires, new battery. 285,757 miles - runs great just don't need it anymore. Will sell for the right price. I am the original owner and this vehicle has never been in an accident or had any history of mechanical issues - extremely reliable. Gets about 16-17 mpg city, 20+ highway. Cool A/C. Cash and local pickup only.

I've been managing projects remotely or mostly remotely as well as consulting for clients worldwide for the past 10+ years. One thing that project managers do who are managing virtual teams and remote projects is conducting hundreds of phone calls and conference calls. Communication is Job One for all project managers, and it's even more critical for the remote project manager. And clear, consistent and reliable communication is of utmost importance.

I obtained a couple Jabra products to test out and have been using them on projects – both of the technical, professional variety and around the house – for the past 3 years and they are perfect for the hands-free user. For this review, I'm going to discus my favorite of the two – the Jabra Eclipse one ear wireless headset.

Jabra Eclipse

This one is my favorite because it's just one ear with no chord. The instructions say “for the right ear” but I can tell you this product works fine and comfortably in either ear. I prefer to do calls in my left ear and listen to music in my right ear so I've used extensively in both and it's just as comfortable and listenable in either ear. I've conducted hundreds of conference calls with this bluetooth ear piece and every time I tell the individual or individuals on the other end of the call that I'm using a wireless headset and I ask if they can ear me ok. Every time they say I'm coming through crystal clear like I'm in the room with them.

I also use this device daily to listen to music from my phone and iPods wirelessly to listen to music while I do household tasks and maintenance. I even used it extensively when I was building my kids outdoor play set / swing set and our large chicken run, hen house and raised garden area. Holds a good charge – even after 3 years of usage – and always connects easily and stays connected.

If you manage project and teams remotely, you need this item. If you like doing household projects and listening to music or podcasts at the same time, you need this item. Either way, you need this item.

An organization can certainly operate a PM infrastructure with a dedicated project management office (PMO). There may be more struggles, a bigger learning curve, or more problems bringing in the best dedicated project management talent, but it can be done. I've seen it work. In my opinion, though, the best organizations... the ones truly dedicated to the success of their project managers and the projects they lead are the organizations that have invested time and money and effort into creating a viable PMO.

Creation of a project management office is rewarding, but never easy. However, there is an organization... Cheetah Learning... that can help you get on the fast track to creating an center of excellence for your PMO by training you to become a Certified PMO Developer. And best of all, if you use a code provided to me - “BRADCPD” - specifically for my readers to take advantage of, you'll get 10% off the course price.

A study done by the Project Management Institute (PMI) revealed that the longer a company had a PMO in place, the better their project success rates were. Their findings showed that 37% of companies that had a PMO for less than a year reported increased project success rates, and companies with a PMO for four years or more had a 65% increase in their project success rates.

Here are the course details for the Certified PMO Developer track...

Credit – 60 Cheetah Spots/Education Credits

Tuition – $2,195 USD

Start Date – The course is available online and you can start the course as soon as we receive full payment.

Duration – 60 hours. You can complete this course in less than two weeks (60 hours). However, we recognize that you may be juggling a career and family as well so we give you up to 12 weeks from the date you register to complete all the course activities.

Course Location – Online

Access – Instructions provided once payment is received and processed.

Course Material – In order to complete the course activities, you will need a copy of the PMBOK® Guide. All material you will need to do the activities is provided online.

If you don’t already have a copy of the PMBOK® Guide, PMI provides PMI members in good standing a digital copy. Simply go to www.pmi.org and log in with your PMI credentials to download a copy.

If you prefer to obtain a hard copy of the most current edition and/or do not wish to join PMI, you can purchase a copy when you click here.

What You’ll Learn...

This PMO certification course consists of five modules where you will follow the five Project Management Process Groups as defined in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) to establish a PMO for your organization: initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing.

Learn the various types of PMOs and how to complete a feasibility study to define key Project Management problems and opportunities within the organization.

Experience constructing a detailed business case by taking a step-by-step approach to investigate all of the alternative solutions to your business problem and then select the solution that best fits your organization and culture.

Develop skills by creating a project charter providing comprehensive and convincing information supporting the project opportunity with an implementation plan for the PMO including required resources, timeline, costs for start-up, and initial operations.

Learn to identify and communicate PMO objectives, roles, responsibilities, and structure that best fit your organization and culture.

Develop skills by presenting the key Project Management challenges facing the organization and define how the PMO will address these challenges and request authorization to proceed with implementing a PMO for your organization.

Be able to create a stakeholder register to identify and manage stakeholder expectations.

Master the PMO planning process with a plan that includes all the elements of the project, including a baseline Project Management plan defining the project’s requirements, schedule, and budget.

Be able to direct and manage the various technical and organizational interfaces that exist in the project to execute the work defined in the project plan.

Learn how to track, review, and regulate the progress and performance of the project and fine tune ways to ensure proper finalization of all activities across all Project Management process groups to formally complete the project.

There are definitely steps you can take to improve performance on an existing project – things you can do tomorrow that may help right the tipping ship. But if you have tried a few or have determined the problem is the leadership, then changing out the project manager – and possible one or two other key positions on the project team depending on how bad the performance really is – may be your only option.

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Only take this approach if it is absolutely necessary but if the project client is asking for the change you really have no other choice. The PM has to go. Remember, changes at top of a project... the leadership of the project... can cause major disruptions and can significantly impact customer satisfaction and confidence. But, if you are at the point of considering or needing to replace the project manager or especially if the customer is requesting this change, then that ship has already sailed and now you're just trying to salvage the project before it gets canceled and a lot of money gets left on the table, right? Not much to lose but possibly everything to gain if you do it right and do it efficiently.

Let's have a little fun and do a new survey. This time I'd like to look at two things...

1) How certified is your PMO or PM infrastructure?2) Who's leading your PMO and how effective is that leadership and the PMO in general?

Remember - all participation and responses are 110% anonymous so respond away!

Please take about two minutes and answer the following questions...and pass this one on to as many colleagues as you possibly can. Thanks! Please note - this survey is sponsored by Cheetah Learning, providers of excellent project management training and certification services - they even guarantee you'll pass the PMP exam so check them out if you're thinking of becoming certifiable! And use code "BRADPMP" for a nice discount on any training Cheetah Learning offers...

​Now, time for the survey...don't worry, it will be swift and painless...results coming very soon...

How Certified and is Your PMO or PM Infrastructure and How Effective is the Leadership?

* Indicates required field

#1 - How many project managers (approximately) are there in your PMO or PM infrastructure total? *

#2 - How many (approximately) are PMP certified? *

#3 - Who is leading your PMO or PM infrastructure? *

Dedicated PMO Director (only manages resources - doesn't also lead projects)Project Manager who leads the PMO but also leads projectsSome manager or supervisor not dedicated directly and only to the PMO

#4 - On a scale of 1-5, how effective would you rate your PMO or PM infrastructure? *

Authors:

Brad Egeland

Brad Egeland has over 25 years of professional IT experience as a developer, manager, project manager, consultant and author. He has written more than 6,000 expert online articles, eBooks, white papers and video articles for clients worldwide. If you want Brad to write for your site, contact him.